Jimmy and Leslie’s Mini-Adventure

Today’s Date: September 26, 2025

Today’s Start Point: Garberville, California

Today’s End Point: Mendocino, California 

Today’s Miles: 75.8 Miles

Cumulative Miles: 879.37 Miles

When planning the trip, this leg scared me the most. 75 miles and over 5,000 feet of climbing. These are not Rocky Mountain numbers, but after the continuous big mileage days it worried me.

The route would start inland and climb to the town of Leggett on Highway 101 and then head to the coast along Highway 1. To get to the coast I would need to cross over two peaks, the highest topping out at over 2,000 feet.

Adventure Cycling in their route book states:

“At Leggett you’ll leave U.S. 101 and return to the coast via SR 1, but not before climbing again. From either direction this road is a steep, twisting climb and descent on a narrow roadway that is hemmed in by heavy forest cover. Allow ample time for the arduous 28.5 miles between Leggett and Westport.”

You might have noticed that I am a coward. Cowards do not like to participate in steep descents with lots of technical turns. Ergo, I have not generally liked the type of descents I would face today.

I left early today believing that the combination of the climbs and my highly dubious descending skills (my climbing skills are not that good either) would leave me out on the road until midnight.

Prior to arriving at the base of the climb I saw our New York teacher friends. I was anxious about the climb so I said a few pleasantries and then was on my way.

The road rise in fits and starts along the Eel River. The air was cool and my legs felt ok. After about an hour I reached Leggett, which I thought was the top of the climb. Leggett is where Highway 101 and Highway 1 diverge. I saw an elderly British couple on touring bikes trying to decide which route to take and I commented saying that the climb did not seem as bad as I feared. They laughed and said the real climb starts now and goes up 1,000 feet in three miles.

I laughed to myself thinking what do these foreigners know, and started the descent down Highway 1. After a few minutes of descending, the road kicked up and my Garmin indicated that a three mile, 1,000 foot climb was coming up. Maybe I should listen to my elders (hard to fine these days), especially if they are British.

With that, it was time to grind. I slowly pedaled upward, passing those bike travelers carrying all of their gear. I remember when unladen riders would pass me by last year and how much I truly hated them. This year I just smiled and said I am sorry and kept going (thanks Les for the 100th time for carrying my stuff).

The scenery seemed pretty, but I could not tell you for sure. All I can say with certainty was that my stem cap and bike computer looked just fine, since that is what I was staring at throughout the climb.

But then came the summit and time for the descent. The descent was twelve miles long and dropped for 1,800 feet. The longest piece of straight road was about 100 yards. Trees crowded around me and there was basically no shoulder.

I had a blast. For once I didn’t have the same fear of descending and just tried to enjoy myself. Luckily there was very little traffic so I had one less thing to worry about. I was among the giant Redwoods again, mostly in shadow as I hurled past. I should be clear about something, however, just because I was not consumed by fear does not mean that I descended well or with great speed. I am sure I scrubbed a few millimeters of rubber off of the brake pads. What I am saying is that although it was not a piece of art, it was great fun.

Once down on the other side of the pass, I went another couple of miles and hit a second climb. I was so concerned with the earlier climb that I had not looked too closely at this second climb. Although the second climb was a little shorter with about the same gradient, this one seemed very hard. It might have been the energy of climbing them back to back, but I suffered more on this second climb.

Once over the second climb it was time for another dizzying descent (the definition of “dizzying” within the context of Landenbergian reality). I was surprised to see that I had quickly arrived at the coast.

The view (as I have said too many times-I need a new thesaurus) was spectacular. I thought the roads in Oregon hugged the coastline, but man was I wrong. The California roads dipped and twisted all the way to Fort Bragg, California.

The roads sit high on the cliffs, and around each turn they provide one expansive view after another. As is my wont, when I am exposed to view after view of absolute beauty, I just start laughing (then again, maybe it’s the oxygen deprivation).

Even with all of the climbing and descending, the ride felt easy. The hard part was the lack of shoulder and watching cars skim by me coming and going. As I travel southward, there is nothing between the little bit of road I fight for and the cliff. Luckily I have not lost yet.

On my way to Fort Bragg, I met a nice young man named Noah. Noah had as much gear as you could fit on a bike. He was 19 years old and from a small town (population 600) in eastern Germany. He was touring the US during his gap year before he begins University next year. He has been throughout much of the country and is now on his way to Mexico. He was a nice kid.

I made it to Fort Bragg at about 12:30 pm, and Leslie had texted me that she was there. I stopped to see her. It was nice to eat my bagel and peanut butter with Les, although I should be clear that I did not share any of it.

She was going to hang out in Fort Bragg (a nice town) for a little while so I set out to complete the nine miles to our final destination of Mendocino, California. This would end up as one of my earliest times off the bike.

When I was a half mile from our lodging, the road narrowed to one lane for road construction. Traffic going south was stopped as the workers let traffic going north proceed, and then the process would be reversed.

I was held up for 30 minutes. I had just completed 75 miles and now as I was within reach of the end, I was held up-sigh.

One amusing note. After this long delay, traffic going south started to move. The car that was two cars up was not moving, the gentleman in the car behind at first gently and then with more emphasis honking his horn. Since I was on my bike, I went up the shoulder to see if I could see what was going on. The car’s occupants were three young girls: the driver had moved her seat as far back as possible and was sound asleep while the other two girls were engrossed in their phones. When I pulled alongside and told them that they could move forward, I think I scared them to death.

I finally pulled into our lodging for the night, a nice bungalow overlooking the Pacific (it would have been perfect if it wasn’t in the middle of a construction site). For once I beat Les to our accommodations, since she was caught in the construction mess as well.

At night we went into Mendocino, a town smaller than I thought with only about 900 residents. It sits on a cove which provides perfect views of the Northern California’s prerequisite rocky shoreline. Although small, it is extremely upscale, with many shops, inns (I am sure they are “historic”) and restaurants. We went to an outstanding restaurant for dinner (not DQ, they don’t even know how to spell DQ in this town). It was nice to experience the lifestyles of the rich and famous for the night.